As always, the story of the Wise Ones, the Magi, who usher us into the season of Epiphany, intrigues me with its layers of images, its spare detail and its promise of Light at the end of the journey. The detail that has caught my spirit this year is the very last line in the [Read More...]

No matter how much I can learn and practice in the dark, I long for Light to shine. Many Advents ago I went to a gathering of other in ministries of spiritual formation in the bleak midwinter. I carried with me some of the dark Advent blues concerning the direction of my ministry and its [Read More...]

The Blueness of this Advent leaves us longing for some Joy. And Advent 3 is Gaudete or Rejoice Sunday! It is the week we are invited to savor the singing of Mary, following her ancestor Hannah: My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior! I cherish these songs of our [Read More...]

Hearts are breaking all over the world! I see them on the newscast daily, and hear them as I listen to conversations. My own heart breaks for parents, for children, for those who have been given many chances and choose to ignore them, and for those who have been given no chance at all. I [Read More...]

Some worshiping communities are using blue as the color for Advent to distinguish it from the traditional purple. The Rev. Eric J. Liles of St Paul’s Episcopal Church says this: Blue represents hope. expectation and heaven…a deep, dark blue is the color that covers us in the dark, cold hours before the dawn. Thus we [Read More...]

It is a gift to discover a companion on the spiritual journey from a tradition different from one’s own. Lisa Hendey is a Roman Catholic; I am a Presbyterian Protestant. Yet in reading her book called The Grace of Yes, I found that there were many places where our paths were similar, if not identical. [Read More...]

I have been privileged to review two very worthy and helpful books for Advent for the Patheos Book Club. I hope you find them as provocative and charming as I have. An Invitation: Taste and See by Jan Johnson The sacred anticipation of Advent and the joy of Christmastide often seem dimmed and fraught for [Read More...]

Often on a journey, geographical or spiritual, I am tempted to say, “This is so beautiful; let’s just stay right here forever!” Santa Fe was one of those spots for me on this latest journey. At the top of a hill is the Museum Plaza, surrounded by striking Native American sculpture, encompassing a red and [Read More...]